The idea for individuals or teams to show off who they are and what they represent makes "widgets" a great tool for online marketers and advertisers.
A widget is small application that gives easy access to content or information on the Internet. One of their strengths is they can be embedded into a Web site or blog without having to leave it. Of course they can be used on a computer desktop as well.
Widgets can be connected to videos, music, maps stocks and news feeds, among many other uses. Some of the more obvious widgets would be the photo slideshows we see everywhere, movie trailers and YouTube videos.
The point in all of this is they are being taken and used by people to express their individuality and who they are. There are other uses of course, but the purpose of this post is to focus on the "vanity" side of it.
In America we have what are called vanity license plates that we can use for our cars if we choose to. They are unique and will express something about a person that they want to make a statement about.
Widgets have that power within them, and people are taking these little applications and making their own personal statement and sharing who they are.
That's the second important aspect of widgets: people want to share them. The first step is the inclusion of a widget that says something about someone; the second step is sharing who they are with others via that widget.
While widgets as a tool will grow and usage and we need to keep an eye on using them for our marketing efforts, the underlying reason they're important is what counts.
There will always be new technologies that allow people to do creative things in an easy way; that probably will never stop evolving. But the underlying foundations of why they work is far more important than the technology itself.
Anything that empowers a person to show forth who they are and what they like and represent will be a hit. If we keep that in mind, we can use whatever technology or changes the future has to offer and build products and services around them. Appealing to vanity will always be a profitable strategy for online marketers.
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